Castration of piglets is a routine procedure on farms in some countries to prevent aggressive behavior and the occurrence of boar taint, however castration causes an acute stress response. The objective of this research was to examine novel methods (needle-free injection system or topical application) to potentially alleviate the pain associated with castration in piglets. At 3 days of age, piglets were castrated without anesthetic (CAS; n = 10), with local anesthetic injected 10 minutes prior to castration using a needle (LA-Ned10; n = 10), with local anesthetic injected immediately prior to castration using a needle (LA-Ned0; n = 10), with local anesthetic injected immediately prior to castration using a needle-free injection system (LA-NF; n = 10), with a short acting topical anesthetic (S-TOP; n = 10) or a long acting topical anesthetic (L-TOP; n = 10) applied to the castration wound, or piglets were sham castrated (CON; n = 10). Behavior was continuously recorded during castration to measure vocalizations (squealing and grunting) and pain related behaviors (struggling and flinching). Blood samples were taken prior to castration and at 30, 60, 120, and 180 min after castration to measure cortisol concentrations. Data were analyzed using the MIXED and NPAR1WAY procedures of SAS. Piglets injected with local anesthetic 10 minutes prior to castration tended (p = 0.067) to squeal less during the scrotal incision and struggled less (p < 0.05) during the removal and severing of the testes than piglets castrated using other pain alleviation methods. Cortisol was greater (p < 0.01) in all castrated treatments compared with CON piglets 30 minutes after castration, except LA-Ned10 piglets. Piglets injected with local anesthetic 10 minutes prior to castration showed fewer behavioral signs of distress and had lower cortisol concentrations 30 minutes after castration than piglets castrated using other pain alleviation methods.